Post by bnsf971 on Dec 23, 2012 6:38:40 GMT -8
Good morning, and happy Festivus.
A lot has gone on in the last few weeks, as far as trains go. First, I sent off my DCC command station after repeatedly having trouble with it. A brand new system was returned to me Friday. I am so disgusted by the ordeal I simply took it to my LHS and swapped it for a new sound-equipped locomotive. I also took the Stewart/Kato AB F3 set I got at the swap meet after Thanksgiving, along with a Kato SD38-2, and swapped them as well. The sound in both sound decoders was almost as good as an old QSI, and they really stood out from my other locomotives (not in a good way) when I operated them. I'm going through my other stuff, and replacing any decoders that are the same brand as the command station and decoders. The silent engines are getting TCS decoders, while the sound-equipped ones are getting Soundtraxx (preferred) or QSI sound decoders. The exceptions are the BLI Blueline locomotives, which are getting TCS decoders swapped in for motor control.
I also picked up a new Bachmann S4 switch engine, with sound, and ordered a Bachmann RS3 with sound, from Factory Direct Trains. The little switch engine runs very well, and sounds very good. My only disappointment is it doesn't have the startup/shutdown sounds the full-blown ($$$) decoders have, but really, how often do you start up and shut down your trains while running them? It is a locomotive I won't worry about tearing off fragile details when I take it to the train club to run it, and it has a similar level of detail to the Atlas S2 I have in my fleet already.
About 6 weeks ago, I picked up a new MRC sound decoder for the FP45 I got from another LHS. It lasted about 20 minutes before failing spectacularly. When the smoke cleared, the decoder looked like I had hooked it up to the main power feed of a nuclear power plant, and thrown the switch. I sent it back to MRC, and after what must be the required amount of crap given me, they sent a replacement. The good news is, all I had to do was plug it into the circuit board, instead of replacing the board, and it has the proper EMD 645 sounds. The bad news is, there are only 3 bell sound files, and only 4 horn sound files, and of course none of them is anything close to what an FP45 sounded like. Motor control and prime mover sound are both a bit better than the original decoders, so overall, it's probably a wash.
Other than that, we're heading over to my nephew's house for an early Christmas. His wife has to work Christmas day, and my wife has to work Christmas night.
Everybody stay warm and dry.
A lot has gone on in the last few weeks, as far as trains go. First, I sent off my DCC command station after repeatedly having trouble with it. A brand new system was returned to me Friday. I am so disgusted by the ordeal I simply took it to my LHS and swapped it for a new sound-equipped locomotive. I also took the Stewart/Kato AB F3 set I got at the swap meet after Thanksgiving, along with a Kato SD38-2, and swapped them as well. The sound in both sound decoders was almost as good as an old QSI, and they really stood out from my other locomotives (not in a good way) when I operated them. I'm going through my other stuff, and replacing any decoders that are the same brand as the command station and decoders. The silent engines are getting TCS decoders, while the sound-equipped ones are getting Soundtraxx (preferred) or QSI sound decoders. The exceptions are the BLI Blueline locomotives, which are getting TCS decoders swapped in for motor control.
I also picked up a new Bachmann S4 switch engine, with sound, and ordered a Bachmann RS3 with sound, from Factory Direct Trains. The little switch engine runs very well, and sounds very good. My only disappointment is it doesn't have the startup/shutdown sounds the full-blown ($$$) decoders have, but really, how often do you start up and shut down your trains while running them? It is a locomotive I won't worry about tearing off fragile details when I take it to the train club to run it, and it has a similar level of detail to the Atlas S2 I have in my fleet already.
About 6 weeks ago, I picked up a new MRC sound decoder for the FP45 I got from another LHS. It lasted about 20 minutes before failing spectacularly. When the smoke cleared, the decoder looked like I had hooked it up to the main power feed of a nuclear power plant, and thrown the switch. I sent it back to MRC, and after what must be the required amount of crap given me, they sent a replacement. The good news is, all I had to do was plug it into the circuit board, instead of replacing the board, and it has the proper EMD 645 sounds. The bad news is, there are only 3 bell sound files, and only 4 horn sound files, and of course none of them is anything close to what an FP45 sounded like. Motor control and prime mover sound are both a bit better than the original decoders, so overall, it's probably a wash.
Other than that, we're heading over to my nephew's house for an early Christmas. His wife has to work Christmas day, and my wife has to work Christmas night.
Everybody stay warm and dry.
